The current EU migration and asylum policy crisis has been perceived to constitute one of the most serious challenges for European security. The attitude of fear and reluctance towards admission of cultural others (including: refugees, asylum seekers and the immigrants) has been particularly visible in the V4 countries. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine the grounds of such a position with reference to general European tendencies as well as specific features of attitudes of Poland and Slovakia as the representatives of V4 countries in the light of their particular economic and social situation. Due to volume limitations the author will focus mainly on the two presented States. The decision regarding choice of Poland arises from the fact that as the only V4 State it has voted in favour of the mandatory quota of relocation of 120.000 refugees. Instead Slovakia constitutes the most vivid example pro-European parties changing rhetoric for more national which is quite transparent for the V4 countries. The whole analysis has been conducted in the specific context of relocation of the symbolic division of Europe an replacement of ideological Iron Curtain with cultural Velvet Curtain which leads to the phenomenon of culturalisation. 

This article discusses the features of the regulation of civil legal in the states, who inhabited the ancient territory of Kazakhstan. The authors also noted the development of a legal framework for regulation of civil relations in these countries. The nomads who inhabited the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, anciently engage in economic, cultural and political relations with other nations, and in accordance with the provisions of the laws protecting the rights of individuals, and sometimes even the whole country, when there was a threat to its interests, thereby protecting the political system, the legal system of nomadic state. Ancient legal system, to regulate relations in the tribal society, giving rise to the modern civil law.

The article is dedicated to the Muslims in Poland, with a special focus on their institutional representation. This religious minority encircles a diverse populace in terms of the path in Islam they adhere to, ethnicity, country of origin, but also the legal status they have in Poland. It includes Muslim Tatars, former students from Arab countries who have been living in this country for decades, as well as transient groups war refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan or the Balkans, esp. Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author argues that institutionalized entities of religious character which associate Muslims in the country, organize their presence in religious terms and represent them, reflect major divisions within the Muslim populace in the country. A key factor is the duration of their settlement – it is concomitant to, if not more important than, tensions between the Sunnis and Shiites.

Islam in North-Western Azerbaijan in the Early Medieval Ages

This article, which we would like to include in the scientific circulation, deals with the religious situation in the North-Western Azerbaijan in the early medieval ages and presents the stages of the spread of Islam in the conditions of the religious-ideological struggle in the region and its position.

Azja Południowo-Wschodnia stanowi region ekstremalnie różnorodny kulturowo. Współczesna rzeczywistość cywilizacyjno-kulturowa stanowi efekt licznych interakcji międzygrupowych, różnorodnych grup etnicznych i wyznawców odmiennych religii, do których dochodziło na przestrzeni dziejów. Charakter regionu determinowany jest także przez ukształtowanie terenu oraz bliskie sąsiedztwo dwóch ważnych cywilizacji: Indii oraz Chin. W artykule omówione zostaną źródła zróżnicowania cywilizacyjno-kulturowego Azji Południowo-Wschodniej.

Jednym z największych wyzwań rosyjskiej polityki wewnętrznej jest problem zapewnienia wewnętrznej stabilności i integralności terytorialnej. Rosja jest państwem wieloetnicznym i wielokonfesyjnym, które obejmuje swoim zasięgiem wiele różnorodnych grup etniczno-narodowościowych. Zróżnicowanie wewnętrzne Rosji jest efektem długoletniej ekspansji terytorialnej. Od czasu, kiedy wojska moskiewskie w XVI w. zajęły Kazań do państwa moskiewskiego włączone zostały duże grupy wyznawców islamu. We współczesnej Rosji islam zajmuje znaczącą pozycję, będąc religią dużych grup etniczno-narodowościowych, a w tym Tatarów i Baszkirów. Odrodzenie tradycji islamskich i rosnąca liczba wyznawców islamu powoduje, że władze rosyjskie stoją przed problemem ułożenia stosunków wewnętrznych. Celem artykułu jest ukazanie historycznych wzorów polityki państwa rosyjskiego wobec rosyjskich muzułmanów. Autor artykułu skoncentrował się na analizie problematyki stosunku partii bolszewickiej wobec wyznawców islamu po wybuchu rewolucji październikowej.

Austria jest krajem, który w swej polityce kieruje się (w przeszłości i obecnie) pragmatyzmem, tj. interesem narodowym, będącym wyznacznikiem tego, co jest akceptowalne, a co nie. Interes narodowy jest istotnym faktorem w ramach uprawianej tam polityki migracyjnej i nie ma znaczenia czy chodzi o imigrantów ekonomicznych, czy o uchodźców. Od lat 60. XX w. Austria jest postrzegana jako miejsce, w którym można znaleźć lepsze życia. To dlatego przybywali tam licznie gastarbeiterzy z Jugosławii i Turcji. Politycy austriaccy podejmowali działania mające na celu kontrolowanie napływu robotników cudzoziemskich – preferowano tych przydatnych dla miejscowej gospodarki, a jednocześnie niestanowiących zagrożenia dla rodzimej siły roboczej. Z podobną sytuacją mamy do czynienia w czasach obecnych. Imigranci mają nie tylko ekonomiczne, lecz także polityczne znaczenie. Partie lewicowe postrzegają w nich okazję do wzmocnienia swych wpływów. Z szeregów imigranckich wywodzą się bowiem w większości ich wyborcy. Partie prawicowe starają się zaś pozyskać przychylną opinię tej części elektoratu, która nie godzi się na przyjmowanie większej ilości przybyszów. Specyficznym aspektem austriackiego pragmatyzmu jest wypowiadanie krytycznych opinii wobec państw Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej, które nie wspierają niemieckiej willkommenskultur. Austria, która w przeszłości była postrzegana jako most łączący Wschód z Zachodem, straciła w oczach krytykowanych krajów, w tym Polski.

The legal framework for the functioning of Muslim community in the Russian Federation

At present, the Muslim community in the Russian Federation grows in importance and strength. The religious freedom, which came as a result of the democratic transformation that took place in the Russian Federation in the late 1980s and early 1990s opened the opportunity for its Muslim residents to develop their own culture, educational system and administrative structure. The freedom of religion was one of the most important elements of perestroika and one of the directions of Russia’s development following the transformation. Here, the freedom of religion can be considered as both an element of liberalization of the Soviet regime, and, after the break-up of the USSR, as a step towards democratization. The article aims to present the most important legal acts and documents that constitute the legal basis for the functioning of Muslims in the contemporary Russian Federation.

Securitization of Islam in Central Asia

The aim of the article is to analyse mechanisms of constructing Islam in the discourse and practices of undemocratic Central Asian countries. This objective will be accomplished through the references to securitization theory located within the framework of the constructivist paradigm. The major argument of the paper is that the discursive transformation of various dimensions of Islam’s existence into a homogeneous threat to the security was an important securitizing move. Its relevance is related to the national and international level of legitimacy. The strength of the securitizing move results from the amount of resources of the authoritarian Central Asian elites as the dominant securitizing actors. In the first part, the text critically discusses the radicalization of Muslims in Central Asia thesis and the practices of the state structures towards Islam. In the next part it will present various manifestations and dimensions of the securitization of Islam in the discourse and practice of the incumbent elites in Central Asia countries.

Relations Chechen-Saudi (august 1997–february 2007)

In the article, the author presented the most important events relations of Chechen-Saudian from the middle of 1999 to February 2007. The author showed how politics looked like for example during presidency of Aslan Maskhadov’s, Ahmat Kadyrov’s.

Chechen religious leaders from the 18th to 19th centuries

The proposed topic is a focus on political and religious activity by religious leaders in the North Caucasus in the fight against the Russian colonizer. Under their leadership they sought victory over the Russian Empire. The author tried to present the most important and vital moments in the life of Mansur Ushurma, Kazi mullah, Gamzat bek and imam Osman Shamil too.

CONSIDERATIONS OF THE LEGAL AND CULTURAL SITUATION OF FAMILIES IN SELECTED COUNTRIES OF THE ORIENT

Residents of the area known as the Orient are characterized through the prism of stereotypes operating for years. Researchers’ works focus mainly on the traditions, yet omit from the analyses the legal and cultural conditions. Primarily of interest and analysis are the Muslim minorities living in Europe, instability in the Middle East and North Africa, and economic issues. Often the subject touched upon is the position of women in Islam, and the studies begin the discussion on both the West and the Arab World. The text is intended to outline situation of family and rights of each member of family, which are contained in the constitutions of the individual states, or the ones that stem from the Muslim law. For the purposes of this text, various Arab countries has been selected where the system has a different shape.

Autyzm jest zaburzeniem neurorozwojowym, które manifestuje się w obszarach związanych między innymi z relacjami społecznymi, komunikacją werbalną i niewerbalną. W ciągu ostatnich dziesięciu lat liczne kampanie społeczne na całym świecie, także w regionie Półwyspu Arabskiego, podniosły ogólny poziom świadomości na temat tego zaburzenia zarówno wśród rodziców, jak i ekspertów. Jednakże tradycyjne wierzenia i przekonania pozostają nadal istotnymi czynnikami, które kształtują zachowania związane z profilaktyką prozdrowotną i nastawieniem do kwestii związanych z szeroko pojętym zdrowiem psychicznym. Niniejsze opracowanie omawia znaczenie tych czynników, a także religii, na percepcję zaburzeń ze spektrum autyzmu w regionie państw GCC (Rady Współpracy Zatoki).

The article briefly discusses the position of a woman in the Islamic world mainly based on the Quran. It presents the Five Pillars of Islam, detailed regulations concerning women and information about Muslims in Poland.

Hodja Ahmad Yasawi – a mystic from Central Asia

The main aim of the article is to analyze the life and activity of the Islamic mystic Hodja Ahmad Yasawi and to present the legacy he left behind. Sufism or Islamic mysticism is an important element of the spiritual heritage of the countries of Central Asia. Ahmad Yasawi was one of the first persons in the region who worked for the development of Islam in Sufism. He gave a lot from himself not only during his lifetime, but also after his death. The article will present the information on the death of the Sufi and his tomb, which is currently on the UNESCO World Heritage List. An important element of the article is the reference to the teachings preached by the mystic (including the silent dhikr) and his works (e.g. his most popular work i.e. Divan-i Hikmet).

Selected Factors Shaping Turkish Foreign Policy

The analysis of determinants shaping the foreign policy of modern states requires taking into account a whole range of internal and external factors, both of an objective and subjective nature. The use of the typology of foreign policy determinants should be supplemented with the characteristics of factors specific to a given country, most often included in the social or cultural sphere. The lack of this type of supplement not only impairs the analysis but also makes it impossible to obtain a full picture of the phenomena and processes studied. One of the countries in which the analysis of foreign policy conditions requires consideration of a whole range of additional factors is the Republic of Turkey. The Kemalist ideology, Turkish Islam and Kurdish separatism described in this article, have a significant impact on the shape of contemporary Turkish foreign policy, thus should be thoroughly studied by all attempting to understand Turkish foreign policy.

Jadidism and the Reform of Muslim Education in Russia at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

The concept of Jadidism - the reform movement among Muslims in the Russian Empire - at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to the present day has beeen of interest to researchers. Scientists discuss it not only the issues of terminology, but also in regard to determining the exact date of the occurrence of this phenomenon and determining its most important stages. Representatives of this movement have been recorded on the pages of history, and their achievements today are an extremely rich source for analysis, mainly due to the ideas they proclaim, which at the turn of the centuries were courageous, and sometimes innovative. The article aims to present the concept of Jadidism in the context of socio-religious changes among the Muslim (Tatar) community in the Russian Empire at the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The article aims at a redefinition of Islamic suicide terrorist’s motivation. It describes the basic determinants and conceptualizations of terrorism and discusses major theories and explanations of that phenomenon from an individualistic and sociocultural perspective. Due to the fact that suicide terrorism is a very distinct and narrow subcategory of terrorism, the paper addresses the questions of Why it is unique? and in What ways it is distinct from (“normal”) terrorism in general? Given the absence of convincing psychological, sociological and educational evidence that terrorists (and especially suicide terrorists) differ in any particular way from the normal population, the author has developed and proposed an “altruistic” suicide-terrorist model. The proposed model treats suicide terrorism as a process of continuous communication/education between the terrorist and his/her reference group in which psychosocial bonds are developed between the individual and the terrorist organization. The process is determined by: (1) an erroneous understanding of jihad, (2) the existence of conducive external conditions, such as frustration underpinned by poor living standards and a sectarian mentality negating the outside world and its values, and (3) a high level of altruism (and in particular reciprocal altruism) in would-be suicide bombers.

The Life and the Activity of the Central Asian Sufi Najm ad-Din Kubra

The article presents the life and the activity of the Sufiand Central Asia - Najm ad-Din Kubra. The paper describes the life that formed the later master of Islamic mysticism. Much emphasis was placed on the issues related to the teachings of the Sufi(e.g. about zikr) and the on the description of the color theory (Latoif), extremely important for students of Kubra. Attention was also paid to the effects of the teachings of ad-Din Kubra (which the brotherhoods drew from the wisdom of the mystic) and how they adapted in society and politics over the centuries.

Saffronization of India? Hindutwa ideology in the rule of Narendra Modi in 2014-2021

In the era of Narendra Modi’s rule in India, we are dealing with a significant increase in the importance of Hinduva. This applies not only to the rhetoric and practice of goverment’s actions, but also to the general change of the socio-political climate. It can be said about the transition of the said ideology to the Indian mainstream. In turn, the most important threads related to the interpretation of Hinduva are distrust towards the followers of Islam and the desire to subordinate them to the Hindu majority. From this conviction and electoral calculation follow further anti-Muslim actions, whether taken directly by Modi’s government, or approved by it, or at least not blocked. The situation of Indian Muslims has deteriorated significantly in so many fields since 2014 that the use of “saffronization of India” to illustrate this phenomenon seems appropriate. It means glorifying the role of the followers of the Hindu religion in India, while diminishing the importance of other religious groups, especially in the historical context.